Since the creation of Stellantis, Alfa Romeo has been using BMW as a benchmark, Alfa Romeo CEO Jean-Philippe Imparato told Automotive News Europe. The Tonale’s main rival is the BMW X1, which also has gasoline, diesel and plug-in hybrid powertrain offerings. Last year BMW sold 90,330 units in Europe, according to Dataforce.
The Volvo XC40 was Europe’s best-selling compact premium SUV in 2021, according to Dataforce, with 120,942 sales. The X1 finished in second place. The Audi Q2 was third, with 53,962 sales, followed by the Audi Q3 with 51,311 sales and the Mercedes-Benz GLA with 46,727 sales.
The compact crossover segment, including premium and mainstream models, is one of the most popular in Europe, with Alfa Romeo predicting volume will stabilize between 2.5 million and 3 million units a year.
Shortly after being appointed Alfa CEO in January 2021, Imparato decided to push back the commercial launch of the Tonale by 12 weeks, from March of this year to June.
“I wanted to be sure that the Tonale quality was perfect since Day 1, but also that we offered a state-of-the-art connectivity and user interface,” Imparato said.
The infotainment system is based on a customizable Android Auto operating system that comes with 4G connectivity and over-the-air updates. The Tonale comes standard with a 10.25-inch central touchscreen and includes Amazon Alexa voice recognition features.
The instrument panel has a 12.3-inch customizable digital screen.
The Tonale has SAE Level 2 driver assistance systems including adaptive cruise control, lane centering, autonomous emergency braking and blind spot detection.